Hometown: Querétaro, Querétaro, Mexico

Previous Degree: Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Santa Fe, B.A. in Financial Management

Role Before Joining MRED+D: Founding and Managing Partner, Cuartopiso

Rafael Urquiza was born in 1991 and for most of his life has lived in Querétaro, down in central Mexico. He attended college at ITESM Santa Fe (B.A. Financial Management). After graduating, Rafael stayed in Mexico City to work at MIRA Companies, a Private Equity firm / developer, where he worked as a financial analyst in Asset Management for three years. Then he moved back to Querétaro to develop single family homes for sale.

By the time the third unit was sold, Rafael started talking about business, urbanism, architecture and the City with his now partners to form Cuartopiso. The firm’s thesis consists in developing intraurban projects in which architectural beauty, rich neighborhood life, final user experience and a vision of respect for the planet are the center of design. Cuartopiso is currently building its first two projects, which add 15 apartments and a retail floor.

From MRED+D, Rafael wants to gain further understanding on the forces shaping the built environment—what private or public initiatives have worked, as a whole, to improve cities elsewhere. He also wants to meet the people behind some of those initiatives, and what better way than to spend time with fellow students and teachers that surely have been involved in several?

In other matters, last year Rafael got married to his sweet Vero. They both enjoy a beer and a cool hike.